Shunt or jumper connectors are known in the art which provide an electrical connection between two adjacent electrically conductive terminal pins inserted into the device. Upon insertion of the terminal pins into the shunt device, electrical connection is established when the pins contact a conducting member or the like disposed within the device such that the flow of electricity between the pins is shorted in a known manner. The shunt device may be used to provide a permanent electrical connection to a printed circuit board or the like or may be used to provide only a temporary connection depending on the circuit requirements.
The trend in the connector industry is to provide a shunt connector comprising an insulating housing having a plurality of conductive contacting elements disposed therein. The insulating housing provides protection from the environment for the contacting elements such that the risk of short-circuiting is minimized.
One such shorting device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,651--Schwab. Schwab discloses a modular electrical shunt comprising an insulating housing which is formed of two halves joined together such that a cavity is formed within the housing. A convex bowed dual-beam leaf spring is disposed in the cavity such that the convex body portion of the leaf spring extends longitudinally outward into the cavity from opposite edges of the leaf spring. The edges of the leaf spring are disposed against the housing for retaining the spring in the cavity. The terminal pins are inserted into grooves in the housing along an axis which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the leaf springs such that the pins engage contacting surfaces at the outermost bowed portion of the leaf spring for creating a short between the terminal pins.
Further disclosure of shunts or jumpers is provided in Walkup, U.S. Pat No. 4,392,702 and Crowley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,198. These devices also comprise a housing structure for electrically connecting an array of adjacent terminal pins to a plurality of contacting elements disposed within the housing. Similar to that of Schwab, convex bowed contacting elements are disposed in the device such that the pins are inserted in a direction which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the contacting element and the pins make contact only at the apex of the outermost bowed portion of the convexly curved pin-gripping portions.
Since the pins in these known devices are inserted along an axis which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the spring, if the terminal pins are not substantially aligned in parallel with each other along the plane of insertion into the housing there is a possibility that one of the pins will not contact the outermost bowed portion of the contacting element, thus resulting in a malfunctioning of the shunt connector. To obviate this problem, Schwab and Crowley disclose a hole or slot in the bowed leaf spring such that the contact member functions as two contact beams which are connected by transverse cross bars. Thus, each contact beam element provides for relatively unrestricted, independent deflection by the spring in each area which contacts a pin.
However, several problems associated with these shorting devices have been recognized. The manufacture of a shunt connector comprising a spring contacting member having a hole or slot so as to ensure that the spring contact functions as two contact beams is costly and complex. Also, these known shorting devices are composed of several parts, thus further increasing the cost and complexity of the manufacture and assembly of the device prior to its use.
Therefore, there is a need for a shunt connector which is comprised of a minimal number of parts and may be manufactured and assembled easily and less costly and which provides a spring contacting element which ensures that a proper electrical connection is made between the terminal pins inserted into the device. The present invention provides a shunt or jumper which satisfies this need.